


Dirge

by just_kiss_already



Category: Mad Max Series (Movies), Mad Max: Fury Road
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Assisted Suicide, Daddy!Max, Dying Nux, Gen, Pain, Sad, i dunno, it's a downer, kinda cheesy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-20
Updated: 2015-06-20
Packaged: 2018-04-05 06:52:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4170186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/just_kiss_already/pseuds/just_kiss_already
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Max returns to the Citadel to find Nux's radiation sickness has caught up to him and the girls are only able to give him morphine for the pain. Nux is often delirious, and Max ends up readily stepping in to care for him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dirge

It's been many moons, months, since Max left the Citadel. It's nice to know he has somewhere to return to, home base, so when he's beaten and battered and his soul feels broken, he turns his car and heads back.

Heads home.

The excitement of his arrival is muddled by the obvious discomfort the women are trying to hide.

"What? What's wrong?" he finally asks when he has the remaining Wives alone the next day. Furiosa would never crack even under direct fire, but these younger ladies are nice. And bad liars.

All Capable has to say is "Nux... The sickness..." and Max is marching through the corridors to the boy's room. People scatter when they see his stormy snarling face, when they hear the heavy plod of his thick boots.

The boy is laying in his bed in a private room, surrounded by fresh flowers of shocking color. Dag must have grown them, cut them especially to cheer the drab room up. The sweet smell is comforting.

Nux doesn't move, even with the commotion Max made opening the door. Throat and chest tight, Max hesitates only a moment before rushing to the side of the bed, crouching by the boy's head.

He's breathing, but barely. Max rubs his hand gently over Nux's shaved head, marveling at how thin and fragile the skin is there. Was Nux always this delicate? This pale? 

"Poor..." Max whispers without thinking. "Poor baby."

The boy stirs under his hand, eyelashes fluttering, lips parting.

"Nnna-" Nux murmurs, his voice a rough groan. "-addy?"

Max leans closer, wanting nothing more than to gather this fragile creature up into his arms. But Nux has already fallen asleep again.

Max refuses to move.

Capable brings him blankets and pillows, helps him make a nest by Nux's bed. Explains they're keeping him high as anything because of his pain. Brings food and water like clockwork; Nux never eats, only turns away, nauseated by the sight of it.

The nights are bad. Sleeping most of the day makes him restless at night, even after Max learns how to dose him to try to help the pain. At night, Nux rocks weakly back and forth and cries. Speaks nonsense. And all Max can do is lay down with him on his small bed, pet his curled back, speak softly to him.

Max tells him stories. Nice stories. Tells him about the dog he had once. Starts making up adventures when he runs out of the truth, unwilling to explain the poor thing was shot protecting him. The dog stories seem to calm him a little. He likes Max's low gruff voice.

Sometimes Nux wakes up more than usual, always at night, always delirious from the pain meds, out of his mind.

He likes to play with Max's hair and beard, laughing like a child. It makes Max smile to hear that laugh.

Nux also likes to play with the flowers. Max brings him a blossom and the boy will sniff it, stroke the soft petals, take it apart as if remembering a bit of his black thumb training.

And he always calls Max "daddy."

At first it'd been awkward, confusing, but it stopped mattering after a while. Because he was. He was taking care of his dying boy, he was watching over his beautiful fragile boy. He was witnessing the last moments of Nux's half-life, and the bond between them was so strong he was sure he'd die when the boy finally went.

His boy.

Max pets Nux, kisses his forehead, wipes his eyes when he cries. Gently bathes him when one of the girls brings warm soapy water and a rag. He won't let them help and to be honest they're a little frightened of the sickness. And Max doesn't want help.

This is his boy.

It's bad one night, the pain is so strong and bad that Nux is wide awake, panting, sweating, unable to do anything but lay still and suffer.

Max injects a healthy dose of the drug, a little more than normal, and prays it works fast.

As Nux clutches his sheets and focuses on breathing, Max stretches out beside him and pets his face, his forehead and cheeks and even his nose. Rubs his chest when Nux starts to hold his breath too much.

"Remember my dog?" Max murmurs.

Nux's eyes flicker over to look at him, the only response he's able to give.

"He liked lizards." Max is fumbling for something. Anything. Making it up on the fly. "Ate 'em all the time. Couldn't get enough. Crunch crunch right in my face."

Nux inhales sharply, a pained thin sound, and actually manages to speak. "Daddy... Is dog in Valhalla?"

Max smiles, or tries to. "Yeah, he's there."

"Gonna see him I hope," Nux forces out between clenched teeth. "Daddy. Daddy. Hurts. So bad."

Tears leak out, roll down, nestle in his overgrown stubble, but he keeps a gentle smile on his face. "I know, baby. The medicine'll kick in soon."

"Daddy." He releases the bed sheet with one clawed hand, reaches up and grabs Max's shirt. "Daddy. Please."

"Can't do nothing." He can't smile anymore, his voice breaks and his heart shatters and his face crumples. "Just lay still-"

Nux interrupts. "More. Daddy please. The... The bottle."

Max knows perfectly well what he's asking. "No."

Nux whimpers but doesn't cry. The tears on his face are from Max. He manages to scoot closer, pressing up tight against Max's broad chest. "Please, daddy."

He's amazed he can draw the fluid into the needle with his hands shaking as much as they are. It takes a lot of refills, but Max finally gets the whole bottle injected. The relief is almost instant and the mood in the room changes. Nux's face smooths, becomes his old happy self again. He turns and reaches out and Max gathers the skinny boy in his arms, lifting as he sits so that Nux is draped across his lap.

"Daddy," Nux whispers into his ear. "Daddy, it's so much better. Thank you."

Max just quietly sobs into the boy's neck.

"Love you, daddy."

Nux isn't alive to hear Max say he loves him too.


End file.
